Build The House | Standing Firm In Faith - Pastor Britt Silcox

We follow Ezra through anxiety, fasting, and a risky journey with sacred wealth, then pivot to a piercing call to reject syncretism and return to Jesus as Lord. Practical steps help us guard the garden at home, in marriage, and in singleness, ending with consecration and a fresh filling of the Spirit.

• Ezra’s fasting, humility, and strategy under pressure
• Stewardship lessons from weighing sacred wealth
• Faith decision to refuse royal protection
• Syncretism defined and unmasked in modern forms
• The “compassion gospel” versus love with truth
• The “me gospel,” lordship, and daily presence with God
• Power and policy idols alongside justice idolatry
• Guarding the garden in marriage, parenting, and home life
• A vision for singles: undivided devotion and holy purpose
• Corporate repentance, consecration, and fresh filling of the Spirit

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Scene In Ezra
• 2:45 Anxiety Meets Fasting And Strategy
• 6:50 Weighing Sacred Wealth And Stewardship
• 10:45 Refusing The King’s Escort By Faith
• 15:20 Crisis In Ezra 9: Compromise Exposed
• 20:10 What Syncretism Is And Why It Spreads
• 25:05 The “Compassion Gospel” Counterfeit
• 30:10 The “Me Gospel” And True Lordship
• 36:20 Power, Policy, And Justice Idols
• 42:15 Guarding The Garden At Home
• 47:40 Singles, Devotion, And Calling
• 51:45 Consecration, Repentance, And Renewal

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:03

Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week. For more information about our church, please visit therockfamily.tv. Now join us for a message from our special guest speaker.

SPEAKER_01: 0:19

I pray that we are growing in our knowledge of Jesus through Build This House series. So today I'm excited about the text. Today we're in chapter 8 and 9 of Ezra. And so just right out of the gate where this story picks up is Ezra is in a major place of anxiety. I think we can all relate to that. Ezra is in a serious place of anxiety where this is gonna pick up today. And it's because, you know, he is the one. I know if you need to go back and watch past sermons to catch up, go do that. But he's the one leading this section of the rebuilding of the temple. So he is in charge right now, he's the leader, and so he's actually been asked to oversee a very important part of the assignment. All of the wealth that has been laid up from the wicked for the righteous that the Persian Empire is going to be sending back with God's people to build the house of God. He is actually the one leading this transportation. He is the one that is responsible to get all of the items and all of the people safely back to Jerusalem. Anyone could say that would be a little a little much? And he knows that there is a lot at risk. He knows there's a lot at stake. Um, so we're gonna pick up um actually before I read verse 21, I just wanted to like research. I'm like, exactly how much money are we talking? Anybody think like that? You've got any number people? It's like, so exactly how much money? What would that be today? Anybody wonder about that? So it says that the Persian king had made a substantial contribution of gold and silver, and Ezra is the one entrusted with this. It equated to 25 tons of silver, almost four tons of gold, various vessels, including 20 gold bowls, weighing about 21 pounds, precious metals. It was estimated in the precious metals that it would be equal to a total annual income of 100,000 people to 500,000 people, their annual income. So this was a pretty big deal. And so the cool part about Ezra, and I think you may relate to this. Have you ever had an assignment? It's already big in the natural, but you actually feel the spiritual weight on it. Can anybody relate to that? I think some of you know what I'm talking about. Something you're dealing with at work. It's it's already a lot just in the natural. But because you have eyes in the spirit, you understand what God's trying to do, you also are feeling the spiritual weight and responsibility of this. And so um, he knows exactly what's at stake, and he knows the journey that he's gonna have to go, and the amount of bandits and robbers that would just be normal for them to be attacked and for this to be stolen. So let's pick up with verse 21, Ezra chapter 8. He says, Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, for our children, and for all our goods. So I'm gonna pause right there. I love to just learn from other people. Does anybody else do that? Like, if I can lean in and learn something from you, I could learn something that's good to do, I could learn from your mistakes. Like, I'm always leaning and learning. And so the first thing that jumps out for me here with Ezra is that in a place of anxiety, what is his go-to? He humbles himself before the Lord and begins to fast. So, right out of the gate, I'm like, I can think of several areas in my life where I have had anxiety over the assignment. I've had anxiety over what's at stake, what could be lost, what could happen to my family, to my kids, to the possessions, to the responsibility. I want to be like this. I want my go-to to be fasting. I want my go-to to humble myself before the Lord. Now, I I just I'm gonna say a lot of things today, and I'm just gonna put this out there. Um, if you go like a whole year to a church and you never get offended, maybe something is wrong with that church. I don't know. I just think, I think when you have diversity of voices and you have scripture, which is meant to offend our flesh, if you went a whole year and you never heard anything that you didn't, I don't know if I like that or not, there might be something wrong with the church. So, you know what? You might have gone a whole year. Today could be your day. I don't know. Here we go. So, what what we normally see, what's normal to us when we face anxiety, is fasting and humbling ourselves might not be our first thing. Nothing wrong with medication and therapy, but it shouldn't be our first thing. It shouldn't. Because what's at risk there is making sure that we can clearly hear what God needs to say to us. Anxiety comes because I think I'm in charge. Anxiety comes because I feel out of control. Anxiety comes because this is too big for me. This is too hard. Well, the last time I checked, everything the Lord has ever asked me to do was too hard for me to do. And then I spin up in a cycle trying to fix me so that I can be big enough to do the hard thing. Not the plan. What is hard for us is easy with him. What you can't do is what he does, right? It's our dependence on him. So let's make our go-to in these moments, humbling ourselves before the Lord. The other thing I love about this is he didn't just get all spiritual. See, some of you think, oh, see, she's a pastor, and so she just wants us to pray about everything. Actually, that's not what Ezra did. Ezra had a strategic administrative plan to go with the humbling of himself before the Lord. Do I have any people with the spiritual gift of administration? See, that means you hadn't taken your next steps. Your next steps spiritual gifting, you'd know this. That's actually one of the spiritual giftings from the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. The gift of administration. People with the gift of administration, does this sound like you? You have a natural skill for organizing tasks and people. You have a desire to streamline processes. Where's Justin Gibbons? He's like doing a lab right now. Do you have an ability to keep multiple projects on target? And do you enjoy managing details? That's a gift of administration that's actually from the Holy Spirit. So stop taking credit for it. Stop. If it's a grace gift, it's from Him, right? But so Ezra operates in this. He doesn't just fast and pray for the safe passage of the kids, the safe passage of the goods, but he also pulls down from the Lord a strategic administrative plan and he says, to prevent theft. Now, this was going to be entrusted to 12 priests and 12 Levites, and he's worried about theft. Okay. So he has a strategy of stewardship. He weighs every single item and inventories every single item. He entrusted it to the 12 priests, the 12 Levites, and then when they get there safely, guess what he does again? He weighs it again. Sounds like an audit, right? Holy Ghost audit right there. Making sure. So he's just done this incredible task. Verse 22, that's also up there. I love this about him. Verse 22, he says, I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us. So the king is like, You sure? You don't need some armed soldiers to help you make a safe passage with this amount of money through all of these roads that are covered with bandits. You're sure. And he like deep down wanted to. You ever been there? Like, I actually would really, really, really like to know that I've got some armed guards. But he couldn't because it was actually going to diminish the reputation of God that he had already preached to say that, look, all this that's happened to us, this is Yahweh. This is God's provision. This is God's resources, he's the one that's got us here, he's the one that has provided. Oh, but you know what? He's not strong enough to protect us to get there. But don't we do this? Look at our own lives. Look at what he's done in your own life, in your own family. Look at from time and time again that he's provided, he's protected. And then wherever we're at right now, like me last week, I don't know. I don't know. Just discouraged. Discouraged. I sent one of those texts that you hit sin before you reread it because you know you'll you won't send it and you just need to like bottom out with somebody a little bit. Like, I'm crashing, I'm crashing. Why? Ezra's like, yeah, I would really like that. Because you know what? Then I wouldn't have as much anxiety, but I already know who God is. So I'm going to put my faith in action that He is going to get us from point A to point B. So I feel like Aren't you already already feel like that's the story? Like, oh, but as soon as He makes it safely, nobody stole anything, they didn't put some in their pocket. He notifies 120 governors and sad traps, but look what God has done. That's when there should be an after party. It's kind of like mom's after we have finished the women's conference. We have warred, we have prayed, we have sought the Lord, we have cried, we have encouraged each other. And you're on your drive home thinking, I am gonna go and I'm gonna put my feet up. We have swept this room, we have cleaned, and the kids are waiting on you. Right? Yeah, yeah. I'm hungry. You know, all the stuff. Anyway, Ezra finishes this part of the mission, and instead of an after party, Ezra 9, verse 1 and 2. After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, The people of Israel and the priest and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands with their abominations. From the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Parasites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, the Amorites. They have taken some of the daughters to be wise for themselves and for their sons. This holy race has mixed itself with the people of the land. And so what we're gonna read in Ezra, what we're gonna learn, his heart sinks. He is so low, he's crushed to see all that God has done, and now he's looking at this group of people. And the very thing that they did for hundreds of years, which God warned, he sent prophets, he begged with them, he pleaded with them, but they would not separate themselves from the defilement of the land, and they had to be exiled, and they lost Solomon's temple, and they got pulled into slavery in Babel. They're doing it again. Like, seriously. And I need to say this because I want to make sure nobody's confused. Nothing about what God was saying is that he did not like interracial marriages. Thank God. Look around you at this church. We are the place where we got all the flavors. This had nothing to do with race, it had everything to do with being unequally yoked and worshiping other gods. And he said, as soon as you marry, as soon as you marry into these ungodly pagan groups, your children are going to be lost. It was always about the next generation. Pure worship being passed down from generation to generation. Let's read verse 3. As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment, my cloak, I pulled hair from my head and beard. I sat appalled. Then all who trembled at the words of God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, they gathered around me while I sat appalled in the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting with my garment and my cloak torn, and I fell upon my knees, and I spread out my hands to the Lord my God, saying, Oh my God, I'm so ashamed. Why does Ezra have this extreme reaction? I think it's a little extreme to pull out your hair and your beard. That sounds painful. Especially because he's not the one that even did this. So if we do just a little bit of short, short history, not gonna take a lot of time. Canaanite people, the fertility cult, it was the most immoral, it was the most vile religion known to man. All of their worship to their gods involved prostitution, it involved sacrificing children, they had Baal, they had a whole group. They had Baal. It was all about ritual sex, self-mutilization. There was Ishtar, which was all about being gender fluid. She was supposed to be the mother of this. Um, still more and more prostitution. Then you had Moat, the god of the underworld, it was death, it was destruction, anything devouring what was good. Like that was what they glorified, and that was what they worshiped, and that was what like their whole world was unto. Right? And so um each of those deities represented forces that were there to distort God's order. So many times, and I know you do it, I do it too sometimes, it'd be like if you saw somebody who made a little statue out of wood, and then they're gonna do a little ritual to it, and you're like, yeah, I think it's it's wood. It's wood. That's not what this was. These were actual demonic forces, ancient spirits that are still at work. We don't have time to talk about it, but if you want to Google it and research it, most of the things that you find, the little details of pride months, go back to things that they did to these deities. So God's command to say, I need you to be separate, I need you to be distinct, I need you not to entwine, not to bring these religions into your home, into your household. It's not because he wanted to take away fun or freedom. He didn't want that defiling spirit to come in and to pervert destiny, what he had planned. Alright, so the overarching word for today on the screen is this the word syncretism. So y'all might think I'm smart, you might not. I actually had not heard this word until we entered the series, so I'm learning new things with you. I knew what it meant, but I had not heard that word. Syncretism is when we mix. Oh, we love Jesus, yes, we love to come to our church, the rock. We love Christian principles, we love conservative values, but then we mix in other stuff. We mix in a little bit of this, we mix in a little bit of this TikTok religion over here, we mix in a little bit, oh, that sounded good, and mindfulness sounds good, and so it's like this hodgepodge of God's word, his commands, his order, what he set in motion. But you know what? We're in 2025, and there's like a lot of new things out there, and it's just like really helpful, you know, so you could just kind of so there's you like three main areas of syncretism that we we allow in. This room right here. Now, the main the first one, I don't think there's that much going on here, but there's probably a little, and that's actually mixing in formal religions with Christianity. I don't know, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, um, I'm drawn blank, but you get what I'm talking about. Some some areas of Catholicism. So it's like a mixing of these things. So um, let me find the other one. Let me find my notes here. The second one is mixing in spirituality. This one is much more common, right? Um, spirituality. So we may like, you know, want to get tarot cards read. We want to talk to a psychic. We've got our crystals, we've got zodiac. Um, everybody's manifesting, right? So it's almost a word, just kind of like sometimes slips in. You don't even mean what they mean it to mean, but it's still like just in the soup of culture. Witchcraft, sorcery, things of the occult, witchcraft. Any supernatural power. You're trying to get power or just trying to get insight. I just need some wisdom. I just need to know what to do. I'm stuck. I just I need to get, you know, find something else that's that's I'm not thinking of. If I am pursuing that insight from any power that is not from Jesus, not from the Spirit of Jesus, Holy Spirit. That's syncretism. We're mixing in the things of the land into our worship to Jesus. The third one is misusing sex, money, or power. All three of those things in their context, they're fine. But when we misuse, abuse, these can be idols in our life. So I love this quote from KG Beale. He said, Adam failed at his priestly service, and I would add Adam and Eve failed at their priestly service. His work was not just to work the soil. So remember, he's supposed to be tending the garden. So his work wasn't just the physical toiling of the soil, it was serving God, keeping the garden, but also guarding it. Adam and Eve failed in their priestly assignment, to which we still have the same today, because they did not fiercely guard the garden from the other idea, from the deceiver, from the serpent, from the one who came into defile and to question God. So as we are in this series of build the house, today what we're talking about is it looks like guarding the garden from these other gospels. Really? Like there's other gospels that we've got mixed in 100%. Every single it's just coming at you every day. You're not bad. You're not bad. It's coming at you every day. We have to be on guard. Deception is sly, it's subtle, compromise is sneaky. Nobody in here woke up today saying, you know what? I just want to be like not devoted to Jesus. You know what? I don't want to have allegiance to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Nobody came in here saying that today. So we have to be on guard. So maybe this one's come. This other gospel's come to your door. It's what I would call the compassion gospel. It comes every, it's always in the form of a question. It's where it starts. That's why I said be careful what questions you're entertaining, what conversations you're having when it's not from Jesus. See, Eve didn't have to enter the conversation. The servant could have come in, asked the question, and she could have just been like. Right? So we gotta be careful how we're entertaining, how we're engaging. So this one comes to you as the compassion gospel. It sounds like this. Isn't it more like Jesus to just love everyone? Like, it's not really like Jesus to hurt people's feelings. And you know, you know what? I already can tell about you. You're not like those other Christians. You know, those other Christians, oh, they're bigots. You're not you're better. You're you're better than them because you have compassion and um you know, you don't say things that are harsh, and you kind of let people decide on their own. I've heard that one. You've been in a conversation with someone and heard that right here. I don't want to be like those Christians. I'll be better. Standing publicly with what God says is good is right. Standing publicly with what God says is his order, marriage between one man and one woman, the way that he wants one man and one woman to have a covenant for their lifetime, for children to come after the covenant, for God in his creative power to choose the gender of every person that is born. God said this is good. So when, but but isn't can't this be good too? So it's not up to me to define what is good. It's not my preference, my desire to define what is good. God already said what is good. I can't mix that in. It's not the compassion gospel. But you know what the true gospel is. The true gospel says every single person in this place struggling, confused, ashamed, hiding, not able to really lay out what's going on because they won't, they don't want to be ostracized, they don't want to be discarded, they don't want to be labeled. The true gospel is just what we did at communion. Chris, where's Chris? So good, so good. Thank you for leading us in communion. That the blood of Jesus is the sign of love, that he loves you, he sees you, he knew you before you ever knew him. He paid for you before you would ever even know his name. Nothing is too vile, nothing is too gross, nothing is too far gone, nothing is too twisted, nothing is too perverted for the blood of Jesus to forgive and to cover. But you know what? But we have to be the kind of people that don't just look down on people who are struggling. We have to be the kind of people that say, I know a man and his name is Jesus. And I love my Jesus. I love my Jesus because my Jesus sees value in every single human being, sees value, put his image in you, and there's nothing that we can't work through if you're willing to follow and obey what God says. And guess what? Your desires, he's a powerful God. And he can actually reform desires, he can actually remake what's broken. You're not bad, but this is not good. Amen? Like, that's the true gospel. I'm gonna skip. There's more scriptures in the notes that we will move on. The next gospel we have to guard our garden from is the me gospel. The me gospel, professing faith, faith in Jesus without obedience. So it comes a little bit like this. Like, church is good. Church is good. I love the events. I love when we do like fun holiday stuff. I love the kids' ministry. Drop them off Wednesday and Sunday. Um, I really like it when I'm struggling because I need prayer, and the people just, whoo, they just, this is a praying house. It's so nice. But you know, sometimes it's just a lot. Like, church can be a lot. Um, like they wanted us to go to bed early on Saturday so we could be on time Sunday. And they're always talking about like tithing? Like, what's that up? Like giving 10%? Seriously? Giving 10%. Okay, y'all just y'all just run with that one. And then serving, serving, serving, serving, serving. I'm really still seeking the Lord. Um I know that, I know, like I'm very unique, really, really unique, and like giftings are very um, they're they're special. They're very special. And so the rock hasn't like really crafted a role that really um it's life-giving, and they're a life-giving church. I know they wouldn't, they wouldn't want me to serve, you know, until I can really find some um and freedom, like I loved the video, the freedom video, it really just moved me. But um, that's a big commitment. That's like multiple Wednesdays in a row, and they make you scan in. Um, like, what's that about? Um I am feeling because of all of what's on my shoulders, that I kind of just need like a massage and a master class. So um, John 3 30. John 3 30, the true gospel, not the me gospel. He must increase. I must decrease. Let's say it again. He must increase. I must decrease. We're not the center of the story and our potential. I'm telling you right now, I'm leading a Wednesday night small group where the ladies. The ladies are not in freedom, they're in there or various places. If I did a small group on our Enneagram or building our personal brand, I can probably double those numbers. And guess what the Lord had us do? We're doing 12 weeks on humility. We love to talk about me, but the me gospel skips right over Lordship. And I want to apologize, actually, I truly, this is like genuine heartfelt, I want to apologize for any person in this place that what you were taught and what you were sold in your salvation experience was that he was going to just make everything easy for you and that you had to do nothing. Um God is amazing, and I I love who he is. Everything about Jesus. I love who he is. But coming and following Jesus is about making him Lord. Say that L word, Lord. Making him Lord. He's in charge. He's in control, his way is the right way. His word is the period. I tell this with my kids on our night prayers, we say this all the time. Jesus, I thank you that you are the Lord of my life. You are the king of kings, you're the king of our family, you're the king of this house, you are the king of our city, you are the king of our nation. Like we're going through just trying to make sure we don't miss mix in a little me gospel. And I hear it in their prayers. Like, I haven't done a good job. I'm I'm up to try a new Holy Spirit. Give me a new strategy. Because the prayers are still, God, thank you that you would give us a great day. And like, no injuries, and like my birthday's coming up, and I have a lot of work to do. Discipling. Um, the me gospel. The me gospel justifies poor choices because you're tired. Anytime I need to decompress. So when we let our flesh decide what we eat, I'm gonna say that again. We let our flesh decide what we eat, what we drink. What we watch, how we relax. What is the is it Galatians? The things that are born of the flesh lead to do you know your Bible? Death. And the things born of the Spirit lead to life. Poor choices when we're tired. You know, when you're tired, you let your kids just do whatever they need to do. They get a screen, they just watch whatever they want to watch. When you're tired, you just binge-watch that streaming service. We get desensitized from the things that we take in. And so what I want us to do, the true gospel says, you know, when you need to come alive, when you need your soul to be restored, when you need to be brought back to life and resuscitated, when you need the heaviness and the pressure to lift, come to my presence. Jesus says, Come and drink. Come. My yoke is easy, my burden is light. Let me refresh your soul. I love how the rabbis, when you read about it, they would grab all the four-year-olds and they'd bring a jar of honey and they'd have them dip their pinky in it, taste the honey, and say, This is what God's word tastes like. It's like honey to your soul. See, the me gospel sends you running every widget direction to get replenished, except God's word. Except spending time with this presence. So something is mixed up here. Something's mixed up. When you can't bring yourself to want to do that because you're tired to sit with Jesus, to take a day, to have a Sabbath day to be with Jesus, and you wonder why you're so exhausted. You're so stressed. We got to learn how to find that in his presence again. So whatever your idea, I gotta go sit in a hard wooden chair and I gotta read King James Version of the Bible. No. Spending time with Jesus can look like a lot of things. He's creative. I love to go walk. I love to go walk, get my little half run on. It's spending time with Jesus. That is the true gospel. Revelation 3, 15 and 19 says, I know your works, and you're neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot? So because you're lukewarm and neither hot or cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. You say, I'm rich, I have prospered, I need nothing. Not realizing you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. This verse comes to mind when we go, oh, you know what? No, I do that. No, I spend time with Jesus. In fact, he just illuminated his word to me. When was that? That was like um back in March. I was reading. Um can't remember, but it was good. It was good. We cannot live on yesterday, last week, last month, last conference, last year, last prophetic word. No, no, you are not gonna be fully alive, joyful, secure, strong, steadfast, stable, without feeding on the word of God, without spending time with him. Go sit on your patio, go take a walk, go skip lunch with the coworkers. Come here on Wednesdays at 12 and pray with us. Spend time with Jesus and let him refill you. Alright, you ready for one more? Am I wearing y'all out? It's like it's 11:30. I got one more. Build the house is guarding the garden from other gospels. Here we go. There's two sides of this one. It's a coin with two sides. One side we have the power and policy gospel. We need to make America great. We need to build the empire, we need to have financial security and military might. That's the most important thing. On the other side, we got the justice gospel. We need activism. We need to see injustice overturned. We need to see equal equality. We need to see equal pay. All the girlies out there, we want to have equal pay. I want equal pay. But that's the most important thing. So let's just think about this. Paint your picture. Close your eyes, paint this picture. You live in a world where your nation has superior military might, economic success, low interest rates. You can go get that house you've been wanting, soaring 401ks. Also, systemic racism is no more. Hatred of people based on the color of their skin is gone. We have equal health care, equal pay. The marginalized are recognized. Sounds amazing. Did you know that those same people still will not spend eternity with Jesus if they do not receive the true gospel? He said, Seek my kingdom first. We're talking about mixing gospels, mixing allegiance. Things can be important and you can work in areas, but it cannot come before the King of Kings and the kingdom that we are building. Acts 1, 6, and 8. I love this. Remember when the disciples want Jesus to overthrow the unjust Roman Empire? He redirects. He redirects. Acts 1, 6 through 8. So when they came together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said, It's not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses. The call is to be his witness. A lot of things that we'd like to fix here. A lot of things you may get to be a part of reforming, but they are not the primary call. The primary call is being a witness to the kingdom of God. We're building the house. Building the house. We have to protect the garden from these subtle compromises that want to come and mix in. They want to twist up. They want to come and pervert what is true. Alright. Where's all my men? I'm gonna talk to you. Are you ready? Are you protecting the garden? Remember, Adam and Eve had a physical garden in Eden. We are now the garden. We are the temple where the presence of the living God dwells. You are the garden. Are you fiercely protecting the garden of your heart? You are also the head of your household. Are you fiercely protecting the garden of your home? Let's read Ephesians 5, 23 and 25. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body of which he is the Savior. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. You are going to stand before the Lord and He is going to hold you accountable because He's already given you the grace to do it. He wouldn't hold you to something that you could not do. He would only hold you to something that He's empowered and wired you to do. And that is to be the spiritual leader of your home. So what does that look like? You know, like you can't be responsible and fix every last little detail, but you know, you can take responsibility for the climate, for the spiritual climate of the home. You can take notice because you're not so busy with things at work that you don't look into the eyes of the people that live in your home, that you can actually notice when something's off. When you see rebellion coming in, you can step in and discipline. You have a responsibility to love your wife, to be committed to her, to be faithful, and to lead your home spiritually. Are you perfect? That ship sailed a long time ago. No one is expecting that. But you know what your wife wants to see? She wants to see you reading the word of God. Do you know what your children want to see? They want to see their daddy praying, depending on Jesus. It's more about how you model than what you say. Fiercely protecting the garden. Whereas my ladies, my wives, all the wives. Genesis 2.18 said, the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. He said, Amen. I will make a helper suitable for him. We have a responsibility and a role to be the helper in leading the home. To be a helper and an encourager to our husbands. Scott loves that joke. You know, Adam and Eve, it's the help that opposes. Do y'all remember that week where he talked about? That was like low-key kind of throwing me under the bus a little bit. I'm here for it. I am very aware that often my help could feel like opposition. But you know, ladies, it's not. It's that men and women see through different lenses. We have a different perspective. So when the enemy is at work and the husband is seeing it from this side, sometimes the wife is seeing it from this side, and we're both wanting the same outcome. And we're both wanting the same victory, and so it's actually help. Our job is to encourage, our job is to set the atmosphere of our home. Are we perfect? No, we are not. He has graced you. You say, I don't, I don't feel the grace. I do not feel the grace to be married to this man. I do not feel the grace to parent these children. I do not feel the grace. So, what what are we gonna come back to that we've already talked about the whole message? We're gonna humble ourselves like Ezra. If you need to fast, fast, Lord, I need grace, I need your help, and He's gonna empower you to do what you're called to do. Where are my singles? First Corinthians. Some of you, there is actually a spiritual gift of singleness. There is actually a spiritual gift of singleness and celibacy. Now, many people are just, they haven't yet found their spouse, so they are stewarding their singleness, but some people are actually called to a lifetime of that. 1 Corinthians 7, 32 through 35, he says, I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs and how he can please the Lord. When a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world and how he can please his wife, so his interests are divided. But an unmarried woman is concerned about the Lord's affairs. Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit, but a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world, how she can please her husband. I'm saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord. So if you're single today, this is an act of worship that you get to bring Jesus. That you don't have to, you don't have to make four different dinners every night because people, I don't eat, I don't eat none, I eat chicken nuggets. Y'all, just today, what is it about Sunday morning? I wake up thinking about Jesus. I wake up early so that I can get in his presence. But no, you're having a meltdown because your pants are too short, you're criticizing everything, you're spinning around the island and running until you fall and you know hit your face. Then the car didn't start on the way here. Think about that singles. You can just wake him up. You can I'm a mission. I don't know, but someone's gonna fill me in later. You get to wake him up focused on Jesus. Alright, could I have the uh Johnny? Would you mind coming up? He's already there. He's already there. He's ahead of me. You're amazing. Love you. Love this man. 1 Peter 2.9. We're chosen, we're royal, we're holy. That's why we made that the theme of Kingdom Heights. Chosen for what? For what? To be just like everybody you work with? Be just like all the other kids in school? Chosen for his presence. Chosen for his presence. We're actually gonna kind of enter a time, because it's only 1142, where we're going to consecrate ourselves. And we're gonna seek the Lord to ask him if there's any area of our life that we have grieved the Holy Spirit. Does every one of you in here love God's presence? You love God's presence. That's why you came today. But when we grieve the Holy Spirit, when we bring in things that do not match his way, he temporarily steps back. And we have a separation of both his power and his presence, which is why you see powerless churches. Powerless churches, because they're doing the things, but they haven't consecrated themselves to be undefiled before the Lord. So if you're okay, just stand up with me. And we're just gonna go to the Lord altar team if you want to come down. I just want you to close your eyes. You and Jesus. Lord, we just want to say how much we love you. God, we love who you are. We love who you are. We love the sacrifice that you made for us. We love that you're so patient. You're so kind. God, we love that you are so forgiving when we come to you and we bring things to you. God, we love that you have graced us. You chose to dwell in us. You could have been anywhere and you said, I don't want to be in a temple made with hands. I don't want to be in this beautiful, all-in, all-flame designed building. I want to be in hearts. So, God, we just come to you and we bring you our heart today. We bring your heart. Holy Spirit, you're the one who illuminates. You're the one who brings conviction. You're the one who helps us see clear when things are cloudy. So today, we just ask you to shine your light. Shine your light any area of our thoughts, our decisions, our go-tos, the way that we've been stewarding our time, the way that we have been just feeding on things that they're not from you. And Lord, we just come just like Ezra, God, with open hands, open hearts today, God, and we repent. God, I repent. God, I bring myself, Lord, with all the frailties, God, with all of the weaknesses, God, with all of the distractions. God, and I just come and I say, Jesus, I need help. I need your help. I need your strength. I need your guidance. God, we repent for every false thing that we've mixed in. God, we repent for just even entertaining ideas that do not match your word. God, we repent for trying to feel smarter than your word. We repent for needing an explanation for your word. God, we come as hungry children, poor, miserable, blind, and naked without you, without your power, without your presence. God, I thank you today. You showed me that every single person coming in here feeling disconnected from the power and presence of Jesus could leave different today. God, I thank you that nothing can separate us from you when we are willing to lay ourselves before you. God, we thank you that you are the one who lights the fire within us. God, would you light it again? Would you light the flame within us again to burn for purity, to burn for holiness, to burn for what pleases you? God, would you fill us again today, overflowing? Just begin to ask him, say, Holy Spirit, I need a fresh filling today. Holy Spirit, fill me up, overflowing rivers of living water. Everything that I've let into this house, I've let into this garden. Would you wash me in the blood of Jesus? Would you forgive me? Would you make me new? Would you make me clean again? Let's make him Lord today. God, today we sign up again for your Lordship. God, you are the King. You are the one in charge. You are the Lord. God, above every other lesser thing that tries to win our affection. Today we say, Jesus, be Lord. Jesus, I choose you. I choose you. I choose you. And Holy Spirit, just begin to give him permission. Say, Holy Spirit, this is great and all. But when I leave here today, when I go back to my normal world, when I go back to my normal life, God, I give you permission to check me. When I go to turn on something on the TV that isn't glorifying you, and it is wretched. It is, it is everything that you had to die for, and I'm being entertained by it. Would you check me? God, would you call me up? Would you bring me into a greater place, a greater standard that your presence would not be grieved? God, I pray over every man leading his household today. Holy Spirit, would you fill him up, overflowing? Would you grace him today to be the man you've called him to be? God, I thank you for full stature over the men of this house to lead because they are connected to your presence. God, I pray over every wife, every helper, every mom. God, I thank you right now that your Holy Spirit would be the one giving permission. Say, Holy Spirit, correct me when I'm checking out and I'm missing things that are slipping into the garden of my children's heart. Check me, Holy Spirit, wake me up, alert me. Holy Spirit, give me the grace to be the mom that I need to be in 2025. God, I pray for our singles right now. God, I pray that they would give you permission to speak to them in ways that married people cannot receive. Because of their devotion to you, because of their service to you, because of them laying their sexuality on the altar as an offering to you. God, I thank you right now for a grace of purity to fill their heart, fill their body, fill their mind. God, I thank you, Holy Spirit, that you have empowered us to be your witness. Right now, today, as a church, we come before you. We want to be your witness. God, I thank you right now, all striving, we lay it at your feet. We don't have to do great things for you. This church doesn't have to tout all the great things we're doing for you. All we have to do is be the lamp stand. Oh, not the lamp. Oh, no, no, no. Jesus is the lamp. Jesus is the light. We're just the stand that holds the light. We bear witness to you, Jesus. Let our marriages, let our households, let our work ethic, God, let our finances, the way we spend money, let everything about us speak as a witness to the king of the kingdom. And God, we just thank you for what you're doing in us today. And we love you, we praise you in Jesus' holy name. Let's say amen.

SPEAKER_00: 52:45

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